Next-generation Nissan Qashqai will be designed and build in Britain

Nissan Motor Co.’s workers in Britain will design, engineer and manufacture the next variant of the best-selling Nissan Qashqai, Chief Executive Officer Carlos Ghosn disclosed at a recent meeting with Prime Minister David Cameron.

The new project will safeguard 6,000 jobs across the supply chain in the UK. It represents a major endorsement of the caliber and quality of British-made products.

The new vehicle variant, which is being is being funded entirely by Nissan, represents a £192 million investment in UK and.

This new version will be built on the success of the existing Qashqai, which is the highest-volume vehicle produced in the UK with export levels of around 80 percent. As the first stage of development, the new variant will be designed at the company’s European Design Centre in Paddington, London.

Then, engineers in the Nissan Technical Centre Europe in Cranfield, Bedfordshire, will have the project. Manufacturing will take place in the company’s Sunderland facility.

In an announcement made outside 10 Downing Street, Carlos Ghosn stated that the United Kingdom has been “a cornerstone” of the company’s manufacturing since 1986, with the Sunderland plant setting essential benchmarks for efficiency and quality around the world.

The nation is also the home of the Qashqai, which is one of the company’s biggest product successes, Ghosn stated.

He added that the plant will be one of the pillars of the company’s zero-emission manufacturing as Nissan’s leadership in sustainable transportation grows. The Sunderland plant will build its one millionth Qashqai later this month. More than 80 percent of the plant’s current production is exported to 97 markets around the world.